TBC: Morning Musing 3.31.15

I have 4 articles for your perusal this morning!

First, on the big bigoted stupid in Indiana:

The Big Lie The Media Tells About Indiana’s New ‘Religious Freedom’ Law

It’s not true.

The Indiana law differs substantially from the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by President Clinton in 1993, and all other state RFRAs.

There are several important differences in the Indiana bill but the most striking is Section 9. Under that section, a “person” (which under the law includes not only an individual but also any organization, partnership, LLC, corporation, company, firm, church, religious society, or other entity) whose “exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened” can use the law as “a claim or defense… regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.”

Jump!

Next, some food for thought:

Leading Papers Incite ‘Supreme International Crime’

Kellogg-Briand was the basis for the “crimes against peace” indictment at the Nuremberg Trials for Nazi leaders, several of whom were hanged for “planning, preparation, initiation, or waging a war of aggression.” At Nuremberg, chief US prosecutor Robert H. Jackson declared:

To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

Third, Florida is set to screw us:

Florida’s Climate Denial Could Cause Catastrophic Recession

But the joke is on all of us: Florida has led the way in all but ignoring the growing twin threats created by human-caused climate change – sea level rise and superstorm surge – thereby creating a trillion-dollar real-estate bubble in coastal property. When the next superstorm like Katrina or Sandy makes its target Florida and bursts that bubble, the state can declare bankruptcy. So too could some insurance companies. But taxpayers – you and I – will get the several hundred billion dollar bailout bill.

Finally, oh holy hell, this is still going on:

Tennessee Prosecutor Insisted Woman Undergo Sterilization As Part Of Plea Deal

Jasmine Randers, 36-year-old woman at the center of the case, had been charged with neglect after the mysterious death of her five-day-old baby during a trip to Tennessee. The defense attorney assigned to her case said that the prosecutor wouldn’t go forward with a plea deal to keep Randers out of prison unless she agreed to undergo the surgical procedure that would make her permanently infertile.

The Associated Press reports that in addition to Randers, there have been at least three other similar cases in Tennessee over the last five years – suggesting that the practice is not an uncommon as most Americans might assume.

So how you doin’?  ðŸ˜€